NEW ORLEANS -- Garrett Hartley says he doesn't believe in premonitions -- or at least he didn't until Sunday.

The New Orleans Saints kicker couldn't sleep Saturday night, tossing and turning on the eve of his team's NFC championship showdown with Minnesota until he finally decided to call his dad -- at 2:15 a.m.

"I said, 'Dad, I have a feeling I'm going to hit a game-winning field goal from 42 yards out on the right hash,'" Hartley said.

After wondering aloud why he was being awakened with this news at such an hour, Bill Hartley reassured his son that he would perform if called upon. "He said, 'You know what to do. You've been doing it your whole life,'" Hartley said of his dad, who lives in east Texas. Turns out, both of the Hartleys were right -- except for about 2 yards.

It was from 40 yards out that Hartley ended 43 years of frustration in New Orleans, knocking through the game-winning points in a 31-28 overtime win that sends the Saints to the Super Bowl for the first time.

Hartley's field goal will now eclipse another kick -- Tom Dempsey's NFL-record 63-yarder -- as this franchise's most enduring moment. It is the kick that finally erased all those memories of fans wearing paper sacks on their heads. It's the kick that sent the French Quarter into full party mode with Mardi Gras still a few weeks away.

Fan favorite Deuce McAllister presented the George Halas Trophy to owner Tom Benson, who broke out his famous parasol as black and gold confetti drifted down onto the field. As the celebration moved into the locker room, one Saint after another said he was proud to provide such a happy moment to a city less than five years removed from one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

"I think you can draw so many parallels between our team and our city, but in reality we've had to lean on each other in order to survive and in order to get to where we are now," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. "The city is on its way to recovery and in a lot of ways it's come back better than ever. As a team, we've used the strength and resiliency of our fans to go out and play every Sunday and to know we can do it -- we can achieve everything we've set out to achieve."

After Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005, there was uncertainty as to whether the Saints would even remain in New Orleans. Now they're taking the Big Easy to the Big Game.

"This community means so much to me," Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said. "I've played in some good football towns -- Kansas City, Dallas -- with great football fans. But the connection doesn't run any deeper than it does here in New Orleans.

"To all the people of New Orleans: We love you, we thank you, and I'm proud to represent you in a Super Bowl."